Drake announced Sunday that it has hired Furman’s Niko Medved as its new coach.

Medved, the 2017 Southern Conference coach of the year, spent the past four seasons with the Paladins — where he led them to the 2017 Southern Conference regular season title.

Medved, 43, also spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Colorado State under current Nebraska coach Tim Miles.

Before joining Colorado State, Medved spent a year as an assistant at Minnesota under Dan Monson after seven seasons as an assistant at Furman.

Medved was also the Gophers’ interim coach in 2006. Medved began his career at Minnesota in 1992 and was the associate head coach at Macalester College from 1997-99.

Craig Smith had been considered a leading candidate for the job before deciding to stay at South Dakota.